Samsung Galaxy S8 Plus Tips and Tricks
Factory OS: Android 7 (Nougat)
Have you updated your Operating System?
Then view tips for the most recent OS version(s): Android 9 (Pie) & Android 8 (Oreo)
Or view tips for all Android versions
If you want to conserve battery life, you can turn off the WiFi while the phone is asleep.
Pull down the notifications screen.
Then long press on the WiFi icon.
Then press the Menu, More or Advanced button and select Keep WiFi on during sleep.
If you want to clear your website browser history, cache or cookies on the Samsung Galaxy S8 Plus because you don’t want other people to snoop around (or you just want to clean up your list), then that is actually very easy to do. Just follow these steps:
- First, open the browser you use and look for the Menu or “More” button/icon.
- Then go to History → Clear Browsing Data.
- At the top, you will see that you can choose to delete data from a week or several months ago. You may also choose to delete everything by tapping “All Time.”
- You will see a list of data that you can tap to clear. You can clear cache, cookies, passwords, browser history and more.
- Be aware that if you delete cookies you will have to login to your online accounts again.
- Then, select browser history, then tap “Clear Data.”
This method generally works if you use Chrome on your phone. If you have multiple devices that use your Google Chrome account, you might notice that your browser history, cache and cookies are also reflected on other devices. These may get deleted too if you delete them from your phone.
If you don’t want this to happen, you can turn off sync on your device. This means that the browser history, cache, cookies, and other private data will just be removed from your phone alone.
To turn off sync on your Chrome, just follow these steps:
- Make sure you have already logged in your Google Account on Chrome.
- On Chrome, click on your Profile / Account icon (located at the top right portion).
- Look for Sync is On → Turn Off
- After this, you can delete your browser history, cache, and cookies on your phone without removing it on your other devices.
For Samsung phone users who are using the default Samsung Internet browser, you can clear your browser history, cache and cookies in a similar way to that of Chrome users. Just follow these steps:
- Open the Samsung Internet browser.
- Tap on the Menu icon.
- Go to Settings → Privacy and Security
- Scroll down to Personal Data then tap “Delete Browsing Data.”
- A list will open up and you can tap to delete other data such as cache, cookies, passwords, location data, among others.
- Select “Browsing History” then tap “Delete.”
If you are using a different browser, the steps are almost the same. The key is to look for your browser’s settings and look for the “Privacy” or “Data” section.
How to clear the cache on your Samsung Galaxy S8 Plus
To clear your phone’s cache, the steps are similar with that of clearing your browser history. All you have to do is click on your browser and open its Menu. For Google Chrome users, just follow these steps:
- Open Chrome and go to Menu or tap on the More (three-dotted) icon.
- Then go to History → Clear Browsing Data.
- At the top, you will see that you can choose to delete data from a week or months ago. You may also choose to delete everything by tapping “All Time.”
- You will see a list of data that you can tap to clear. You can clear cache, cookies, passwords, browser history and more.
- Just select Cache, then tap “Clear Data.”
For those who are using the default browser on Samsung phones, the steps are also similar with that of clearing your browser history:
- Open the Samsung Internet browser.
- Tap on the Menu icon.
- Go to Settings → Privacy and Security
- Scroll down to Personal Data then tap “Delete Browsing Data.”
- A list will open up and you can tap to delete other data such as cache, cookies, passwords, location data, among others.
- Select “Cache” then tap “Delete.”
If you are using a different type of browser, the steps are still quite similar. What you really have to look for is the Privacy, Data, or Security settings of your browser. Just open your browser and look for its Settings or “More” option.
How to Clear Cookies on the Samsung Galaxy S8 Plus
Clearing cookies from your phone is done similarly with clearing your browser history and cache. For Google Chrome users, just use these steps:
- Open Chrome and go to Menu or tap on the More (three-dotted) icon.
- Then go to History → Clear Browsing Data.
- At the top, you will see that you can choose to delete data from a week or months ago. You may also choose to delete everything by tapping “All Time.”
- You will see a list of data that you can tap to clear. You can clear cache, cookies, passwords, browser history and more.
- Just select Cookies, then tap “Clear Data.”
For those who are using the default Samsung browser, you can follow these steps:
- Open the Samsung Internet browser.
- Tap on the Menu icon.
- Go to Settings → Privacy and Security
- Scroll down to Personal Data then tap “Delete Browsing Data.”
- A list will open up and you can tap to delete other data such as cache, cookies, passwords, location data, among others.
- Select “Cookies” then tap “Delete.”
For those who are using other types of mobile browsers, the steps would be similar. Just look for the Menu then look for your browser’s Privacy, Data, or Security options.
If you would like to unmount your SD card for whatever reason, then drag down your notifications menu from the top of the screen and press the Settings icon.
Then go to Device management – Storage – SD card.
This will depend on your device, but you should then be able to select Unmount SD card.
To see notifications on your Lock screen, the best option is to download an App called NoLed from the Play Store. This will show notifications such as text messages, emails and missed calls as bright icons on your home screen.
You can choose between very small squares or small icons and these can assigned by coloured.
If you want to setup new email accounts, like Yahoo or Hotmail, go to the Play Store and download your favourite email service.
Almost all of them have an App now, so the setup is much easier than in the past.
Install the App and follow the instructions to set it up correctly.
Then if you want to modify or view your accounts, go to Settings – Cloud and accounts.
Here’s how to pair your device with another Bluetooth device.
First you will need to turn Bluetooth on. To do this, drag your finger from the top of the screen down, to show your notifications menu. Then press Bluetooth so the icon is green.
Then press the Scan button and your device will start to scan for pairable devices.
Choose the desired device and press Accept. You may be asked to enter a PIN or Password.
While the stock standard keyboard is fine, there are much better keyboards available for the Samsung Galaxy S8 Plus.
First, you need to go to the Play Store and download one. Try searching for the word ‘keyboard’ and you will see a number of options.
One of the best keyboards is a keyboard called Swiftkey, which is a top-rated App. This will literally change the way you feel about your phone as the standard keyboard can be quite a frustrating experience.
Download your chosen keyboard and go through any install steps that you are presented with.
If you see a warning saying the keyboard will collect all information (including credit cards) just ignore this. This is just a security feature that Android shows for every third-party keyboard that you install.
Then, go to the App you want to type in. You should now see a little Keyboard icon on the row at the bottom of your screen, towards the bottom-right corner. Press that icon and you can switch between all of the keyboards you have installed.
Some other notable keyboards that work on the Samsung Galaxy S8 Plus are GO Keyboard and Gboard (the Google Keyboard). Download and install your keyboard app of choice. Once that’s done, follow these steps to switch your current keyboard to that newly installed one:
- You can click on your newly installed keyboard app (icon).
- Most of them can assist you on how to switch your keyboard.
- Just follow the instructions from the new keyboard app.
How to Switch Your Phone’s Default Keyboard to A New One
You can follow the steps above because most keyboard apps can assist you when it comes to switching the default keyboard to theirs. However, you can also do it manually by going to your Phone Settings. Just follow these steps:
- Go to Settings and scroll down or look for the “System” sub-menu.
- Under “System,” tap “Language and Keyboard” or “Language and Input.”
- Tap “Default Keyboard” and select the new keyboard app.
Depending on your unit and model, this method could vary. For those who can’t find the “Default Keyboard” option, you can follow these steps:
- Under “Language and Input,” you need to look for Virtual Keyboards → Manage Keyboards.
- Tap your keyboard of choice to activate it.
- You will get a message of confirmation. Just tap “OK.”
- Open your keyboard. You can do this by trying to write a message, email or search.
- Then tap the keyboard icon.
- Choose the Input Method (tap on your preferred keyboard).
Done! You can change your Samsung Galaxy S8 Plus keyboard’s theme, predictive text, and other settings by opening its menu. You can do this by locating the keyboard icon on your home screen, or by tapping on the settings icon when you open the keyboard for typing.
Sometimes you may get a notification from a particular App and you would like to change the settings for that App.
To do this, pull down your notifications screen.
Then long press on the App you would like to see the settings for.
Then select the gear icon. This will take you straight to the App settings.
There is a great app called Moves by a company called Protogeo that makes use of your devices accelerometer to record your movements, whether by walking, cycling or running.
Go to the Play Store and search for Moves.
Smartphones can sometimes get hot when playing play games, listening to music, watching videos, or charging.
This is common and mostly caused when several Apps are running at once, or one App is using a lot of processor power.
Normally there is no need to worry about phones getting a warm while in use as the phone and battery can heat up to 120 Fahrenheit without damage.
However, when your phone becomes unbearably hot and you start having issue with your Apps, then there might be a problem. This might be due to faulty battery, too much charging, or a high workload.
To diagnose this, you can use apps like TempMonitor or Battery Temperature Guard (free) to monitor your device’s temperature.
Both can be downloaded from Google Play Store.
These apps should be able to tell you that your phone’s temp is within normal range.


